Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Anti-gay groups own the patent on scientific distortions

The sad fact that a pro-gay study has turned out to be fraudulent would only be made worse should, when discussing this situation, folks forget that anti-gay groups have practically wrote the book on distorting science.

A study claiming that gay people advocating same-sex marriage can change voters’ minds has been retracted due to fraud. . . . The study was published last December in Science, and received lots of media attention (including from BuzzFeed News).
It found that a 20-minute, one-on-one conversation with a gay political
canvasser could steer voters in favor of same-sex marriage. Not only
that, but these changed opinions lasted for at least a year and
influenced other people in the voter’s household, the study found.

Donald Green, the senior author on the study, retracted it on Tuesday
shortly after learning that his co-author, UCLA graduate student
Michael LaCour, had faked the results. Scienceposted an official “editorial expression of concern” — a very big deal in the science world — on Wednesday afternoon.

“I am deeply embarrassed by this turn of events and apologize to the
editors, reviewers, and readers of Science,” Green, a professor of
political science at Columbia University, said in his retraction letter
to the journal, as posted on the Retraction Watch blog.

I am personally furious for the obvious reasons that a pro-gay study turned out to be fraudulent, but also I can just imagine how anti-gay groups and spokespeople will attempt to spin this. If they are smart, they would be wise to remain in their glass houses.

Mark Regnerus created a discredited negative study on gay parenting.

It's not as if distorting science and legitimate studies are situations alien to anti-gay groups. Ever since starting this blog in 2006, I have kept a listing of the times researchers, Ph.D., and physicians have complained that anti-gay groups have distorted their work to prove negative theories about lgbts, even if said study was actually saying the opposite. Among the examples I have compiled:

Six researchers
of a 1997 Canadian study (Robert S. Hogg, Stefan A. Strathdee,
Kevin J.P. Craib, Michael V. Shaughnessy, Julio Montaner, and Martin
T. Schehter), who complained in 2001 that religious right groups
were distorting their work to claim that gay men have a short life
span.

The authors of the book Unequal Opportunity: Health Disparities Affecting Gay and Bisexual Men in the United States
(Professors Richard J. Wolitski, Ron Stall, and Ronald O.
Valdiserri), who complained that their work was being distorted by
Focus on the Family.

University College London professor Michael King, who complained that the American Family Association was distorting his work on depression and suicide in LGBT individuals.
.Dr. Robert Spitzer,
Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University, who has
consistently complained that religious right groups distorted his
study to claim that the LGBT orientation is easily changeable

And how could we forget that lovely time in 2011, when Tom Minnery, a spokesman from Focus on the Family, was dressed down
by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) during a Congressional hearing for
deliberately misrepresenting a study

And I am almost sure that the Family Research Council will trumpet the news of the distorted marriage equality study even though the organization itself has a very nasty history of distorting science, such as the fact that it continues to cite a fraudulent study, Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples, which uses outdated work and
compares married United States couples to unmarried gay couples in
casual relationships from other parts of the world.

Also, the numerous times FRC continued to defend the Mark Regnerus study even after it has been discredited.

So when it comes to scientific distortions, anti-gay groups have the lgbt community COMPLETELY outgunned, outmanned, and outdone in every conceivable way.

My only hope is that this basic fact will come to light should anti-gay groups begin creating lies about lgbts distorting science.

About Me

Alvin McEwen is 46-year-old African-American gay man who resides in Columbia, SC.
McEwen's blog, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, and writings have been mentioned by Americablog.com, Goodasyou.org, People for the American Way, PageOneQ.com, The Washington Post, Raw Story, The Advocate, Media Matters for America, Crooksandliars.com, Thinkprogress.org, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Washington Blade, and Foxnews.com.
In addition, he is also a past contributor to Pam's House Blend,Justice For All, LGBTQ Nation, and Alternet.org. He is a present contributor to the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post,
He is the 2007 recipient of the Harriet Daniels Hancock Volunteer of the Year Award and the 2010 recipient of the Order of the Pink Palmetto from the SC Pride Movement as well as the 2009 recipient of the Audre Lorde/James Baldwin Civil Rights Activist Award from SC Black Pride. In addition, he is a three-time nominee of the Ed Madden Media Advocacy Award from SC Pride.